Dome was winding down, Wire was not yet reformed, and to keep himself busy, guitarist Bruce Gilbert made his first solo record. It was in 1984. This Way a took few people by surprise: what was this rock guitarist doing making musique concrète? 25 yeas later (and reissued on Editions Mego), This Way remains a strong opus of drones, transformed sounds, and grey ambiences. Immersive.

A mix-CD produced in real time, on three turntables, by New-Yorker Matt Shadetek and neo-Brooklyner DJ /Rupture. They slip in a few of their own tunes among the 22-track set, plus tons of dubstep, a dab of hip-hop, Caribbean influences, and a few surprises (Nico Muhly, Luc Ferrari?!). Tight and powerful, intelligent too, but a bit outside my personal comfort zone (i.e. too dancefloor friendly).

I approached this one with caution, and I got worried at the very first notes: the great UK folkman Iain Matthews (Fairport Convention) in jazz mode (with Dutch group Searing Quartet)? “Tackiness warning!” I thought. Then, charm waltzed in, and I found myself surprisingly captivated. I mean, this is a very commercial album, a baby-boomer, shirt-and-tie dinner affair! But there’s Matthews’ voice, and this dozen new songs cowritten especially for this project with Searing Quartet’s leader. A half-hued record, velvety, crooning, extremely cleanly produced, yet so human-sounding. Bravo, says I, bravo. [Below: Official video for the song “Randolph Scott.]

What happened to Brian Carpenter for his band Beat Circus to change its attitude so drastically between their first album for Cuneiform (depressive and full of spectres) and this second one (cheerful and bouncy)? Whatever it was, Boy from Black Mountain is excellent! A vivid modern take on Americana, overexaggerated at times, often sweet, always creative. This record is tighter and showcases a better-defined sound than the previous effort. It also sounds a lot less like an offshoot of The Eyesores (which it wasn’t, though it sounded like it). I’m instantly hooked and I just know I’ll be coming back to this one often.[Below: “February Train”, found on Cuneiform’s website.]